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BEIJING — In the love-hate U.S.-China relationship, there’s been no shortage of competition:
cyberwars, currency wars, intellectual property wars and, most recently, the tug-of-war over a
certain asylum-seeking fugitive leaker.

Then there’s the rivalry over who has the best-dressed first lady, capped by China’s surprising
anointment as the winner last week by
Vanity Fair.

For the second consecutive year, Michelle Obama did not make the cut for the high-fashion
magazine’s “International Best-Dressed” list. But China’s new first lady did. Peng Liyuan “sails
onto the list,” as
Vanity Fair put it in a photo gallery highlighting Peng’s eye for trendy-yet-stately
attire.

“She is the mother of the country,” wrote an unidentified Chinese blogger registered in Hebei
province. “Finally, China has a first lady who gets people thumbs-up around the world.”

Some in the U.S. fashion orbit saw Obama’s omission as a misjudgment. An author at the New
York-based Fashionista blog wrote that there were “more than a few snubs” on the list, but that “
the biggest would probably have to be Michelle Obama. Especially when you consider some of the men
and women who made the list over her, like Chinese first lady Peng Liyuan.”